i'm beginning reading the samyutta nikaya from the sutta pitaka soon and was curious as to which book (if any) out of the translated ones by bhikku bodhi and one by maurice walsh have the stories of the buddha's birth, youth, quest for enlightenment, and death? also where are the stories of the taming of the elephant, miracle of pairs, etc. or are these from mahayana suttas?

Last edited by bodom on Sat May 29, 2010 6:35 pm, edited 3 times in total.

The heart of the path is SO simple. No need for long explanations. Give up clinging to love and hate, just rest with things as they are. That is all I do in my own practice. Do not try to become anything. Do not make yourself into anything. Do not be a meditator. Do not become enlightened. When you sit, let it be. When you walk, let it be. Grasp at nothing. Resist nothing. Of course, there are dozens of meditation techniques to develop samadhi and many kinds of vipassana. But it all comes back to this - just let it all be. Step over here where it is cool, out of the battle. - Ajahn Chah

hey thanx so much! i'm assuming the letters mn and dn stand for majjhima nikaya and digha nikaya, right? what are the numbers??? chapters or page numbers? rough because i'm not going to be able to afford the dm and dg for a while why couldn't any be in the sm? grrr oh well

the miracle of pairs is one i've never really thought fit in with the rest of the logical, down to earth buddhist teachings. the buddha emitted water and fire from all of his pores. super weird and uncharacteristic. sounds like a magician. still though i would like to read the original story.

also thanx for the links! do you have one for the birth, youth section? the pre enlightenment story of his life i have always loved, such a beautiful development.

After doing some searching I found that the Miracle of Pairs is contained in text called Mahavastu which is a text of the Lokottaravāda school of Early Buddhism. Im not at all familiar with this school or its texts. I dont believe this sutta is found in the Pali Tipitaka.

The heart of the path is SO simple. No need for long explanations. Give up clinging to love and hate, just rest with things as they are. That is all I do in my own practice. Do not try to become anything. Do not make yourself into anything. Do not be a meditator. Do not become enlightened. When you sit, let it be. When you walk, let it be. Grasp at nothing. Resist nothing. Of course, there are dozens of meditation techniques to develop samadhi and many kinds of vipassana. But it all comes back to this - just let it all be. Step over here where it is cool, out of the battle. - Ajahn Chah

The heart of the path is SO simple. No need for long explanations. Give up clinging to love and hate, just rest with things as they are. That is all I do in my own practice. Do not try to become anything. Do not make yourself into anything. Do not be a meditator. Do not become enlightened. When you sit, let it be. When you walk, let it be. Grasp at nothing. Resist nothing. Of course, there are dozens of meditation techniques to develop samadhi and many kinds of vipassana. But it all comes back to this - just let it all be. Step over here where it is cool, out of the battle. - Ajahn Chah

If you want all these stories but dont have money to put out for the full translations then I recommend the classic book, Life of the Buddha, According to the Pali Canon Translated by Bhikkhu Nanamoli, which contains them all and more:

The heart of the path is SO simple. No need for long explanations. Give up clinging to love and hate, just rest with things as they are. That is all I do in my own practice. Do not try to become anything. Do not make yourself into anything. Do not be a meditator. Do not become enlightened. When you sit, let it be. When you walk, let it be. Grasp at nothing. Resist nothing. Of course, there are dozens of meditation techniques to develop samadhi and many kinds of vipassana. But it all comes back to this - just let it all be. Step over here where it is cool, out of the battle. - Ajahn Chah

bodom wrote:If you want all these stories but dont have money to put out for the full translations then I recommend the classic book, Life of the Buddha, According to the Pali Canon Translated by Bhikkhu Nanamoli, which contains them all and more:

If you are interested in studying the Suttas I strongly recommend Bhikkhu Bodhi's collection "In the Buddha's Words". See this thread: viewtopic.php?f=13&t=2392

It's an excellent selection of (mostly his) translations, organized in a logical progression (with many of the stories you are asking about early on) with very clear notes and background explanations. If I had to pick a single book, this would be it. Though I have the full translations that are available for the DN/MN/SN I keep coming back to this one because of the way it is organised. In fact, if someone asks "where did the Buddha say X?" I reach for this contents page of this book. Don't imagine that it's a waste of money if you are eventually going to buy all of the Nikayas. It's cheap ($15), and it gives an extremely efficient way of seeing the whole structure of the teachings.

There is now a set of lectures by Bhikkhu Bodhi that work through the book (very slowly) that he gave over a period of two years or so. I've been listening to these over the last couple of months.

You can download a detailed review, and the front matter and first chapter at the Wisdom site link given in the above thread.

Doh! How could I forget Bodhi's anthology?! Thanks Mike great recommendation!

The heart of the path is SO simple. No need for long explanations. Give up clinging to love and hate, just rest with things as they are. That is all I do in my own practice. Do not try to become anything. Do not make yourself into anything. Do not be a meditator. Do not become enlightened. When you sit, let it be. When you walk, let it be. Grasp at nothing. Resist nothing. Of course, there are dozens of meditation techniques to develop samadhi and many kinds of vipassana. But it all comes back to this - just let it all be. Step over here where it is cool, out of the battle. - Ajahn Chah

After doing some searching I found that the Miracle of Pairs is contained in text called Mahavastu which is a text of the Lokottaravāda school of Early Buddhism. Im not at all familiar with this school or its texts. I dont believe this sutta is found in the Pali Tipitaka.

Hi, I believe the Yamaka Pathihariya (Twin Miracle) performed at Savatthi just before the Buddha is said to have popped over to the Tavatimsa to teach the Abhidhamma is also described in the Dhammapada Commentary. Sorry if I don't have the Dhammapada verse that was commented on.

If you are interested in studying the Suttas I strongly recommend Bhikkhu Bodhi's collection "In the Buddha's Words". See this thread: viewtopic.php?f=13&t=2392

It's an excellent selection of (mostly his) translations, organized in a logical progression (with many of the stories you are asking about early on) with very clear notes and background explanations. If I had to pick a single book, this would be it. Though I have the full translations that are available for the DN/MN/SN I keep coming back to this one because of the way it is organised. In fact, if someone asks "where did the Buddha say X?" I reach for this contents page of this book. Don't imagine that it's a waste of money if you are eventually going to buy all of the Nikayas. It's cheap ($15), and it gives an extremely efficient way of seeing the whole structure of the teachings.

There is now a set of lectures by Bhikkhu Bodhi that work through the book (very slowly) that he gave over a period of two years or so. I've been listening to these over the last couple of months.

You can download a detailed review, and the front matter and first chapter at the Wisdom site link given in the above thread.

Best Wishes, Mike

already have it:) i want it all now lol! and yeah that book's structure and index make it soooooo accessible! i love it.

mikenz66 wrote:If you are interested in studying the Suttas I strongly recommend Bhikkhu Bodhi's collection "In the Buddha's Words". See this thread: viewtopic.php?f=13&t=2392...

already have it:) i want it all now lol! and yeah that book's structure and index make it soooooo accessible! i love it.

If you find that book useful I would advise: 1. Listen to BB's talks on based on the book (that should keep you going for a couple of months at least). 2. Buy the MN and listen to his talks on the MN here: http://www.bodhimonastery.net/bm/about- ... ikaya.htmlThat should keep you going for many more months. At the same time you might listen to MN talks from Ajahn Brahm and others at http://www.dhammaloka.org.au/ to get some different perspectives. Unfortunately, the past talks are currently not available while they redo the web site, but there are talks on about half the MN Suttas from AB and other monks/nuns. There are many other talks on MN suttas scattered around the Internet. Their size makes them ideal for dealing with in an hour or two talk.

There is, of course, a lot of good stuff in the other Nikayas, but I prefer to first study suttas where I can hear talks (and discussion due to questions), so it's more like taking a class than just reading...

mikenz66 wrote:If you are interested in studying the Suttas I strongly recommend Bhikkhu Bodhi's collection "In the Buddha's Words". See this thread: viewtopic.php?f=13&t=2392...

already have it:) i want it all now lol! and yeah that book's structure and index make it soooooo accessible! i love it.

If you find that book useful I would advise: 1. Listen to BB's talks on based on the book (that should keep you going for a couple of months at least). 2. Buy the MN and listen to his talks on the MN here: http://www.bodhimonastery.net/bm/about- ... ikaya.htmlThat should keep you going for many more months. At the same time you might listen to MN talks from Ajahn Brahm and others at http://www.dhammaloka.org.au/ to get some different perspectives. Unfortunately, the past talks are currently not available while they redo the web site, but there are talks on about half the MN Suttas from AB and other monks/nuns. There are many other talks on MN suttas scattered around the Internet. Their size makes them ideal for dealing with in an hour or two talk.

There is, of course, a lot of good stuff in the other Nikayas, but I prefer to first study suttas where I can hear talks (and discussion due to questions), so it's more like taking a class than just reading...